France is the first of the Big 5 to start their rehearsals. After seeing one of the french dancers in action a few nights ago at the Euroclub, our curiosity was heightened after being witness to a beautiful ballet floor show.
Amaury took to the stage wearing a black military style jacket in the style of Coldplay over a white shirt. He still has his trademark shoulder length locks, but should seriously consider investing in tweezers to pluck his eyebrows before the final.
He stands completely alone on stage, so we don’t get to see any distracting dance routine – no fuss, which lets the actual song come to the fore and to speak for itself. And speak for itself it does. This has to be up there as one of the classiest songs this year. The French have wisely decided to lower the song an octave, thus eliminating the possibility of young Amaury’s voice cracking as he build up to the awesome crescendo. The only gripe about lowering the song a notch is that some of the initial deeper notes seemed to become inaudible. Although Amaury stands completely motionless on stage, this does not detract from the presentation whatsoever, merely serving to heighten the intensity of the performance. The crescendo towards the end of the song is a true tour de force and indeed testament to the singers vocal talents.
The staging of Sognu is for lack of better words, stunning and one of the most beautifully atmospheric yet to be seen in the contest. The set starts of with a backdrop featuring a night sky, with sweeping clouds lit by moonlight and twinkling stars. The nighttime gives way to daytime and sunrise, which floods the huge backdrop to great effect in breathtaking colours, enforced with orange lighting above the stage.
In my view
A very passionate, captivating and emotive first rehearsal for France which merely enforces the hopes and expectations of the best French placing for a very, very long time. Welcome back France, it’s good to see that your reputation as one of the last bastions of quality in the Eurovision Song Contest has been restored! It’s a delight to see that their chances for victory are stronger this year
than ever before – maybe Paris 2012 is after all a distinct possibility?
